Justice Rajiv Narain Raina has asked the state government to apprise the court about the appointment of the presiding officer by July 16. (Representational Image)

Hearing a writ petition seeking directions for expeditious decision on compensation claims of 2016 Jat agitation victims and appointment of the presiding officer of Haryana State Claim Settlement Commission, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has asked the state government to apprise it about the appointment by July 16.

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The post at the settlement commission has been lying vacant since April after previous presiding officer Justice (retd) K C Puri was moved to Haryana Human Rights Commission. As many as 18 residents of Jhajjar have told the High Court that their claims for compensation have been pending for the past two years as the government has not even filed replies to their claims.

“The petitioners are sufferers of the disturbance… in Feb, 2016, during Jat Reservation Agitation. All the petitioners had suffered huge losses, in fact, 90 percent of the petitioners belong to Mohalla Chhawni of City Jhajjar…which was the epicenter of the disturbance and the whole property of the petitioners including houses, utensils, clothes, vehicles… were almost destroyed by the agitators,” the plea reads.

Justice Rajiv Narain Raina has asked the state government to apprise the court about the appointment of the presiding officer by July 16. “Mr. Harish Rathee, Sr. DAG, Haryana to seek instructions as to when the vacancy in the Haryana State Claim Settlement Commission, Haryana will be filled,” the order reads.

“The petitioners had sent a representation to the respondent state to appoint Presiding Officer and to decide the claim of petitioners, but to no effect,” the victims have said in their plea.